Those are key elements that the millennial generation, which is redefining corporate geography, is seeking in its live, work and play environment, according to James Hughes, professor and former dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

Hughes discussed “Disruptions Reshaping Where We Live, Work and Play” on Monday at the former Hoffmann-La Roche campus in Clifton and Nutley.

It's particularly relevant because new owner Prism Capital Partners is redeveloping the campus with the goal, it says, of incorporating those trends. Prism sponsored Monday's forum, the first of two.

Prism Capital is working to “reinvigorate and reignite the economic foundations that support the towns of Nutley and Clifton,” Eugene Diaz, a Prism principal, told the audience. “We want people to understand the processes a thoughtful developer goes through to try to form what should be built, how it should be built, and the reasons that we’ll ultimately propose to build and redevelop this campus.”

“A couple of the things we wanted to do initially was to re-tenant the campus with a multitude of really vibrant, growing businesses,” Diaz said.

Already ramping up is the redevelopment’s anchor, the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine, the first new private New Jersey medical school in 40 years. It recently was approved to recruit.

“We’re going to be moving administrators from those schools onsite in two weeks,” Diaz said.

Meanwhile, Modern Meadow, a company that produces bio-fabricated leather, is moving its Brooklyn headquarters to the campus, with the help of state incentives. Quest Diagnostics and Ralph Lauren also have state incentives on the table to consider relocation to the campus, branded as "ON3."

“A lot of people don’t necessarily understand the shifts that are taking place in our economy in our state and local communities that are changing the way people live, changing how people work, who they work for, the types of jobs they can engage in, and how they may shop, eat and enjoy leisure activities,” Diaz said.

“There have been tremendous changes taking place throughout the United States economy, driven significantly by demographic changes, but also socio-economic changes and the realities of lifestyle choices that people are making in this day and age with respect to automotive, transportation, public access, public transportation and the like.”

Disruptions

NEWSLETTERS

Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox

We're sorry, but something went wrong

Get breaking news from all around North Jersey delivered to your inbox as soon as it happens.

About 200 people attended the Monday forum, including Clifton and Nutley officials.

Hughes walked through New Jersey’s suburbanization, from the baby boomers through millennials.

The baby boomers, born between 1946 to 1964, migrated in droves from New York City to New Jersey tract housing – 1,000 per week in 1,000 straight weeks, he said.

Now, they are leaving the workforce.

Half of baby boomers will retire by the end of this year, being replaced in the top-line workforce by Generation X, born from 1965 to 1979, according to the forecaster.

“They rocked around the clock; now they’re limping around the block,” Hughes said of boomers.

A "sky bridge" connects Building 123 to Building 102 at the former Hoffmann-La Roche campus, as it appeared during a press tour on June 9, 2014. The property borders Clifton and Nutley.(Photo11: NorthJersey.com File)

Today, the suburbia created by baby boomers is changing. Enclosed shopping malls, or “cathedrals of commerce,” are being repurposed, as are office parks throughout the state.

“By 1990, 80 percent of commercial office space went up in the 1980s,” Hughes said, adding New Jersey took that much of that market from Manhattan. During that growth, the state bird might as well have been the “crane,” representing the office construction boom, the professor said.

About the same time, the digital age was launching. Game-changing innovations evolved into today’s e-commerce, with half of U.S. households being Amazon Prime customers, with “work anyplace” mobile capability, Hughes said.

Eugene Diaz, principal of Prism Capital Partners, introduces James Hughes, professor and former dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, on March 5, 2018, at the ON3 campus bordering Clifton and Nutley.(Photo11: Owen Proctor/NorthJersey.com)

Meanwhile, populations are declining in the outer suburbs, he said.

Between 1950 and 2004, New Jersey’s job growth grew by 2.34 million, compared to New York City’s growth of 81,800, according to Hughes. That flipped between 2004 and 2016, with a New Jersey growth of 76,100, compared to 775,700 for New York City, one of the nation’s “cool” locations for millennials.

There is also a growing trend of renters versus homeowners in U.S. households, the forecaster said.

“The new corporate business model is where innovation thrives in dense, interactive, multiuse, creative environments,” Hughes said, with walkable and public transit options.

ON3 hopes to fit into “New Jersey’s next generation lifestyle hub,” attracting today’s “digerati” or digital elite, according to Prism.

Transition

In June 2012, Roche announced the closure of the 116-acre campus and soon laid off 1,000 workers. Clifton and Nutley lost $15 million in annual taxes and were eager to redevelop the property with industries offering high-paying jobs.

In January 2016, the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine was announced as an anchor for the property. The school is expected to welcome its first class this year.

Prism Capital Partners' next Suburban Revitalization Forum is 6:30 p.m. Thursday in ON3’s Building 200 auditorium, 340 Kingsland St., Nutley. It will focus on “The Big Design and Development Project of the Next 50 Years.”

Speakers include Ellen Dunham-Jones, professor and director of the Urban Design Program at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Chris Porter, vice president and chief demographer at John Burns Real Estate Consulting.